Safe.



PATENTED JULY 14, 1903.

D. FRANCE.

SAFE.

APPLICATION FILED 0OT.17, 1902.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

H0 MODEL THE norms PETERS no. PMoTo-u'ma. wAsHmmoN. 0 c4 UNITED STATES Ilatented. Jl'uly 14, 1963'.

PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID FRANCE, oF HAWLEY,. MINNESOTA, ssIeNoE oF ONE-HALF TO. OLE oLsoN, oF HAWLEY, MINNESOTA.

SAFE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 733,712, dated July 14, 1903".

Application filed October 17, 1902. 'Serial No. 127,687. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, DAVID FRANCE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hawley, in the county of Clay and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Burglar and Fire Proof Safes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention relates to safes or.

safety-deposit vaults such as used in banks and elsewhere, and is directed to the provision of improved means for rendering the same burglar-proof and fireproof.

To the above ends the invention consists of the novel devices and combinations hereinafter described, and defined in the claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a view principally in front elevation, but with some parts broken away and others sectioned, illustrating my invention and showing a safe, cooperating armored well, and means for raising and lowering the safe. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on theline 00 w of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail of a crank for winding up the Windlass-drum which is used to raise and lower the safe. Fig. 4 shows the safe in front elevation, but with some parts broken away, and a portion of the well-armor in section. Fig. 5 is a section principally on the line of 50 of Fig. 4., but with some parts left in full. Fig. 6 is a view corresponding to Fig. 4, but showing the parts in slightly different positions; and Fig. 7 is a detail in transverse section, showing the sand-hopper of the timed lock-releasing trip.

The numeral 1 indicates a vertically-disposed shaft formed of plates of hardened steel and constituting what I term the armor of the well. The lower portion of this shaft or armor extends down into the ground, as best shown in 2, and is surrounded by masonry 2. In this masonry is preferably embedded tubes or bulbs 3, which contain a deadly poisonous gas.

The numeral a indicates one of the walls, and the numeral 5one of the floors, of abuilding,which may be assumed to be abank-build ing. The floor 5 may be assumed. to be the ground floor, in which case, it will be noted, the masonry 2 and lower portion of the armor 1 extend into the ground below the floor of the basement. The forward portion of that section of the armor which extends above the floor 5 is cut away, so that ready access is had to the interior of the armor or shaft 1.

As shown, the shaft or armor 1 is rectangular in cross-section, and hence the safe which works therein is of corresponding form. The numeral 6 indicates the safe, which may be of ordinary or any suitable construction, and, as shown, is provided with doors 6, which are adapted to be swung open when the safe is suspended in an elevated position in line with the opening in the upper portion of the armor.

A Windlass-drum 7 is suitably journal'ed in the upper portion of the armor 1, and it is provided at its outer end with a squared shank 7 The numeral 8 indicates a'chain which at one end is secured to the drum 7 and at its other end it is secured to the top'of the armor 1. The intermediate portion of this chain 8 passes under a sheave 9, mounted in brackets 10, secured on the top of the safe 6.

The numeral 11 indicates a hand-crank, which is detachably securable to the squared shank '7 of the Windlass-drum and is provided with ratchet-Wheel 12. When the crank is in working position, the ratchet-wheel12 cooperates with the retaining-pawl 13, pivoted on the upper portion of the armor 1 and serving to hold the safe in an elevated position.

Pivoted within the safe 6 is a lock-lever 14, provided at its outer end with a downturned detent 15 and an upturneddetent 16 and provided at its inner end with a detachably-secured. bowl 17. A spring 18, applied to the lock-lever lat and connected by a screw and nut 18 to an interior projection 18 of the safe, norm ally holds the free inner end of said lever and the said bowl 17 upward, as hereinafter more fully described. The side of the safe is notched or cut away to permit the detents 15 and 16 of the lock-lever 14 to work outward through the same.

One side of the armor 1 is provided with notches 15 and 16. The notch 15 is located above the floor 5 and cooperates with the detent 15, while the notch 16 is located near the bottom of the well and cooperates with the detent 16.

Suitably secured within the safe is a socalled sand-hopper 19, provided in its bottom with a small perforation 20, located just over the cup 17 of the lock-lever 14. As shown, this hopper 19 is removably held by keepers 21, applied to a horizontal plate 22, secured within the safe.

The perforation 20 in the bottom' of the hopper 19 is adapted to be opened and closed by a plungerlike slide-valve 23, which works in a suitable seat formed in the lower portion of the hopper, as best shown in Fig. 7. The outer end of the valve 23 is connected to the upper end of a lever 24, suitably pivoted within the safe and subject to a spring 25, which normally holds said lever against a detachable stop-pin 26, in which position of said lever the valve 23 opens the perforation 20 in the hopper 19. The lower end of the lever 24 is preferably beveled, and it cooperates with a cam-lug 27 ,rigidly secured on the bottom plate of the armor 1. As shown, the said cam-lug and the lower end of the lever 24 work through a perforation or sleeve-like passage 28 in the bottom of the safe.

Operation: e will start with the position of the parts indicated in Fig. 1, in which po sition the cup 17, as shown, is filled with sand 5, which, acting on the lever 14, overcomes the spring 18 and holds the detent 15 in engagement with the lower extremity of the notch 15 in the armor 1, thereby holding the safe in an elevated position even without the use of the windlass. In this position of the safe the safe-doors may be freely swung open, as already indicated. lVhen the safe is to be lowered, the Windlass-crank 11 is applied and the safe is temporarily suspended thereby, while the cup 17 and the hopper 19 are removed, the sand transferred from the former to the latter, and both parts again placed in working position. hen the cup 17 is emptied of sand, the spring 13, operating on the lock-lever 14, throws the detent 15 inward into an inoperative position out of line with the lock-notch 15 and the safe may then be lowered. Of course while the safe is being lowered sand will slowly run from the hopper into the cup 17, but so slowly as to have no effect on the spring 18. \Vhen the safe is lowered to the position indicated in Fig. 4, the detent 16, under the action of the spring 18 on the lock-lever 14, engages the upper extremity of the lock notch or slot 16, and thereby locks the safe against upward movement. Then as the safe is moved slightly farther downward to its extreme or lowermost position the depending end of the lever 24 is thrown against the cam-lug 27 and the valve 23 is moved into a position to close the sand-escape passage or perforation 20 of the hopper 10. This is all accomplished before enough sand has escaped from the hopper into the cup 17 to overcome the spring 18. The said escape-passage in the hopper is, in fact, of such size that it will require a very considerable length of timesay one hour or morefor enough sand to escape from the hopper into the said cup to overcome the spring 18. \Vhen it is desired to raise the safe, it is 11ccessary as preliminary thereto to raise the safe by means of the Windlass as far as permitted by the detent 16 and upper extremity of the notch 16, or, in other words, into the position indicated in 4, in which position the lower end of the lever 24 is raised above the cam-lug 27, thereby permitting the spring 25, acting thereon, to move the valve 23 into a position to open up the sand-escape passage 20 of the hopper. The escape of the sand is thus again started, and it will then be necessary to wait one hour or a predetermined length of time required for sufficient sand to run into the cup 17 to overcome the spring 18, and thereby throw the detent 16 inward out of line with the notch 16. This being done, the safe may be raised by means of the windlass or other device provided for that purpose. It will thus be seen that the sand running from the hopper to the cup,as above described, operates much after the manner of an hourglass and afford a timed lock-releasing trip. Hence it will be understood that various other forms of timed trips may be employed for the above purpose.

lVhen the safe is lowered, as indicated in Fig. 6, its doors are of course not only locked in the ordinary manner, but are held closed by the surrounding walls of the armored well. Furthermore, all portions of the safe are closely covered except the top thereof, and the said top is located far below the opening the in upper portion of the armor.

In practice I propose to make the well of such dimensions in one direction that a man cannot pass down into the safe, and hence cannot get access to the top thereof. hen the safe is lowered it is, of course, thoroughly protected from fire The poison tube or bulbs are placed in the masonry 2, so as to make it impossible for burglars to work in the vicinity of the safe until the lapse of a considerable length of time after having blown away the masonry or cut through the same to get access to the safe.

Of course the safe may be raised by any person having the crank 11 and understanding the operation of the hoisting device; but this cannot well be taken advantage of by a burglar, for the reason of the length of time required to raise the same to its uppermost position after the preliminary step of raising the same, as indicated in Fig. 4. Furthermore, the said crank would be placed where persons not authorized would not have access thereto, and, if desired, the squared shank of the Windlass-drum may be protected by a shield.

The device is of course capable of many other modifications all within the scope of my invention, as herein set forth and claimed. In the drawings springs are shown as applied to operate the levers 14: and 24, but it will of course be understood that weights might be used in lieu thereof, so that gravity alone would perform the functions of the spring.

lVhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

1. The combination with a well, of a safe working therein, means for raising and lowering said safe, a lock for locking said safe at the bottom of said well, rendered operative by the lowering of said safe, and a timed releasing device for said lock, rendered operative by an initial upward movement of the safe, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a well, of a safe working therein, means for raising and lowering the said safe, a lock for locking said safe at the bottom of said well, and a timed releasing device for said lock, involving a sand-hopper, means for opening and closing a discharge-passage in the bottom of said sandhopper, and a sand-cup, carried by the looking member, located in position to receive sand dropped through the bottom of said sandhopper, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a well having the armor 1 open at its upper end, provided at its bottom with the cam-lug 27 and at its sides with the lock-notches 15 and 16, of the safe working within said armor, means for raising and lowering said safe, the lock-lever 14 pivoted within said safe, subject to the spring 18 and provided with the detents 15 and 16 cooperating, respectively, with said locknotches 15 and 16, the detachable cup 17 carried by said lever 14, the detachable sandhopper 19 within said safe, the valve 23 for opening and closing the discharge-passage in the bottom of said hopper, and the springpressed lever 2i pivoted within said safe and subject to said cam-lug 27, to close said valve, said cup 17 receiving from said sand-hopper and when filled with sand, overcoming said spring 18, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DAVID FRANCE.

WVitnesses:

ELIZABETH H. KELEHER, F. D. MERCHANT. 

